Garona Halforcen
Garona Halforcen is a half-orc assassin. Formerly an emissary of the Horde during the first invasion of Azeroth, she was the reluctant murderer of King Llane Wrynn. Biography Rise to power Having travelled throughout all of Draenor, Garona was well-versed in the culture of the orcs, making her an invaluable asset to the Shadow Council. She was inducted into the warlock-controlled Stormreaver Clan. She quickly became the Chief Interpreter of the Shadow Council, and Gul'dan's personal spy and assassin. However, Garona admits to having no true allegiance to any certain clan. Due to her mixed blood, she was eternally an outcast, and had to rely upon her wits to keep her alive in the harsh world. Upon arriving in Azeroth, Garona's experience lent a great deal to her insight with their newest foe - the humans. Emissary to Medivh Originally, she was a member of one of the first raiding parties into Azeroth, and also one of the few to confront the Guardian Medivh. While her party was wiped out, she was spared, and sent back to relay a message to the warlock Gul'dan. After a period of time, she returned, and met with the Magus on many occasions. Eventually, she was granted the title of Emissary, and sent to Karazhan. It was in there that she met Khadgar, Medivh's apprentice (and observer from Dalaran). Khadgar was, at first, furious at her presence, but the Magus demanded Khadgar treat her with respect. A trust was formed between the two when a bizarre demon appeared in the library of the great tower, and both utilized their skills in defeating it. Garona and Khadgar continually criticized the other's race, and defended their own to each other. Eventually, Garona mentioned to Khadgar that the orcs had been arriving on Azeroth via a gateway known as the Dark Portal. Garona also began to respect the magus Medivh a great deal, and because of that respect, she started to debate her true loyalties. Stating that the "Old Man" had told her everything she wanted to know, despite knowing full well that she was a spy, she felt that she could never break that trust. She even made the comment that the bond of trust made her feel more 'human', and that she felt Medivh had a grand dream to bring something better to this world. Battle with Medivh Due to Medivh's recently bizarre behavior, Khadgar and Garona felt it necessary to investigate and uncover if there was a connection between the sudden arrival of the orcs and Medivh's behavior. Using a spell to call forth a vision of the past, Khadgar and Garona discovered that Medivh was, in fact, the man who had brought the orcs into Azeroth, and uncovered his plans of murder and deceit. This shook Garona to the core, and while at first she thought it to be a misfire of the spell, she eventually realized that Medivh was indeed the one who had opened the doorway for the orcs. After a short battle with Medivh, where Khadgar used his powers to summon a vision of Aegwynn that distracted the magus, the two escaped and made their way to the former kingdom of Azeroth. Despite a small interruption in their journey, they eventually met up with Lord Anduin Lothar. They told their story to Lothar and King Llane Wrynn of Azeroth, but Llane could not believe it was true. Despite Llane's skepticism, it was Lothar who realized that the Magus had truly gone insane, and at his suggestion, a small raiding party was gathered to confront Medivh in Karazhan. Later that very evening, Garona donned the colors of Azeroth at Lothar's request, and joined the party as they set out via gryphons to the tower. After searching about the tower they came across a hidden passageway leading into the very mirror image of the tower itself, where Medivh's second shadow Sargeras dwelled. It was also at this time that both Garona and Khadgar witnessed something that would forever change the half-orc. Karazhan presented Garona with a vision of her future, where her present-self was forced to watch in horror as her future-self murdered King Llane during the siege against Stormwind. For a while, Garona was terrified of what she knew would eventually come to pass. Llane was one of the few people in her life who had treated her with kindness and she did not want to kill him. Khadgar finally snapped her out of her state of shock and forced her to focus on the more important matter at hand. He told her that if the vision was true, then it meant they would both get out of Karazhan alive (since Khadgar had previously seen a vision of his own future as well), and that if it was false then she could die taking comfort in the knowledge that she wasn't destined to betray King Llane. Eventually, they found Medivh, who unleashed all the powers bestowed upon him by the Order of Tirisfal and the demon lord Sargeras. Garona, now boiling with anger at Medivh's betrayal—and perhaps hoping to die rather than live out the vision she had seen—attacked the magus head on, only to be struck down by a powerful spell. Medivh expressed disappointment in Garona, telling her that he had hoped she of all people would understand what he was going through and not oppose him. Feeling little remorse for the half-orc, he then touched her head and cast a second spell, filling her mind with the doubts and divisions that he himself had carried. She fell to the floor, incapacitated. Moments later, after much conflict, Medivh was finally slain by Khadgar and Lothar but Garona was nowhere to be found... Llane's assassination Soon after, Garona became a trusted confidant to King Llane, but because of Medivh's mind games, she was unable to form a true allegiance. She reported to King Llane the inner workings of the Horde and how he could use it to his advantage. After her "release" by orc forces during a raid on Northshire Abbey, she was ordered (presumably by the Shadow Council) to kill King Llane. Realizing that her vision had become a reality, she reluctantly carried out this task, and with a deep sadness, murdered Llane, cutting his heart out. Immediately, Orgrim Doomhammer used the situation to his advantage, killing the corrupt Blackhand and seizing the mantle of Warchief. His spies found Garona, and tortured her, almost to death, until she finally revealed the secret location of the Shadow Council. The Council was destroyed, and the warlocks slain. Parentage Garona's "non-orcish" heritage is disputed. The initial conclusion regarding the situation was that she was half human, as she claimed in the Warcraft I manual. Timeline retconning issues (see below) later seemed to make that impossible. In the novel The Last Guardian, Garona states that when orcs look at her, they see only her "human" parts, and Medivh surmises that her homeland had "humans or near-humans "...while Khadgar wondered how much of her physical appearance was from her human heritage and how much from being female. However, Garona tells in that she was forced through the portal along with laborers into Azeroth from Draenor", which lead some to speculate that she is half orc and half-draenei. The issue was brought up on the official forums, where former community manager Caydiem claimed that Garona was in fact half orc and half draenei. She made this plausible by stating that the draenei seen so far in the game had been mutated as Draenor was torn apart by portals and through their portal travels. However, this was never confirmed. When questioned about Caydiem's comments, Chris Metzen remained tight-lipped, simply saying "You will just have to wait and see about her." With the recent revelation of "true" draenei and their Eredar-like forms, it was hard to believe that Garona was half-draenei, as she lacked their cranial features, leg structures, tail, hooves, etc and her prowess as a rogue makes it unlikely she is half uncorrupted draenei. However, in the Burning Crusade expansion there is a half-orc, half-draenei blademaster NPC in Nagrand. Lantresor of the Blade, leader of the Boulderfist ogres, can be described reusing Rend Blackhand's orc model, with no draenei features, and neither having human features. However Lantressor's model may just be using an orc model due to lack of a true half-draenei model in game (in the same way that half-elves are represented by elven models in game). The Warcraft RPG Horde Player's Guide makes reference to Garona being a half-orc (its definition of a "half-orc" is the offspring of an orc and a human). The book also clarifies that a hybrid of orc and draenei is called a half-draenei, and implies that they have physical features from both orcs and draenei. Later in the book, though, it mentions that Garona's parentage is a mystery, and that she is not half-draenei. The book points out that early on people had thought her to be half-human, however her age would make it seem impossible for a human and orc to have produced her, as she was already a young woman at the time. Timeline retcons In Warcraft's initial history as stated in the Warcraft I Manual, there was approximately 15 years between the time the first orcish scouts entered Azeroth, and sacked the first village to the start of the First War. It was implied that Garona was born from the union of the first scouts with humans they took as slaves during their initial raid (making her age during the start of the first war about 15). However later on Metzen removed 14 years from the timeline leaving only a year between the time the first scouts arrived, and when the first war began, making it impossible for Garona to have been created by human & orc union from facts as we understand them. Instead making it more likely that Garona was born on Draenor years before, and come through the portal with the invading orcs (although there are other possibilities). History (Tides of Darkness) Tides of Darkness only mentions that she is half-orc and does not go into her heritage. However an interesting bit about her history is established. She apparently was born sometime after the rise of the Horde (perhaps even after the orcs had first come through the portal). She didn't know all the details, of the why or how of the early orc history. She only knew a few details such as that the orcs skin went from brown to green and that they went from practicing different magic than what they had known before, the ceremony binding the orcs to the Legion, as well as details leading to them coming to Azeroth. However the way it was written it didn't appear as if she had first hand experience with those events. Aging spell Another theory is that with the recent revelation that orc warlocks possessed aging magic in the novel Rise of the Horde, Garona may be the product of an orc and human rapidly aged to maturity specifically to serve as an emissary/assassin. However, the description of this spell in Rise of the Horde is similar to the warlock spell Drain Life, and it could have simply been Christie Golden's interpretation of how the spell functions. Garona displays no knowledge of (or at least doesn't talk about) the orcs' noble shamanistic heritage, and only remembered Draenor as a barren wasteland, not a verdant grassland, making it likely that she was born after the devastation wrought by the orcs' corruption. Medivh's daughter? Another theory is that Garona is actually the offspring of Medivh, who may have been on Draenor many years before the opening of the dark portal (although this is not recorded). However this is denied by Medivh's own acknowledgement of having only been on Draenor in dreams and in Gul'dan's spirit. Although that doesn't rule out supernatural pregnancies through dreams or by spirit. Time travel Another idea that perhaps Garona was born sometime after orcs invaded Azeroth, and that she later travelled back in time to Draenor, perhaps via the Caverns of Time, allowing her to pass through the Dark Portal with her fellow orcs during the First War. This theory ignores that fact that orcs visited firt time in Kalimdor (where caverns of time resides) in third war, and those orcs were just small group of Thrall and his followers. Half-Succubus She may also be the offspring of an orc and a succubus, since both were present on Draenor at that time. Sudden disappearance from Warcraft III In early release information related to Warcraft III, including private demonstrations to the media, it was mentioned that Garona was intended to play a major role in the main campaign, likening her importance to that of Thrall himself. In April 27, 2000, IGN.com interviewed Rob Pardo about the up-and-coming Warcraft III. In an interview conducted by IGN, Garona is mentioned as a playable hero unit, but by the game's release in 2002, she is strangely missing. Current whereabouts Garona's current fate remains unknown, although she was seen in Ravenholdt Manor, the guild of assassins, during World of Warcraft closed beta, with the title of "Grand Master of the Assassin's Guild" -- which suggests that Garona survived Doomhammer's wrath. The NPC was removed later on and has not reappeared since. She is possibly being reserved for a special storyline in a future content patch following the release of the expansion pack. It is likely more will be revealed about Garona in a future patch. Since the release of The Burning Crusade players can once again visit Outland. Also, with the return of Khadgar and Blizzard's promise to add more Ravenholdt Manor quests, Garona would fit in quite well. *Though she was removed from the game, her NPC ID is still located in the game as Creature 6767: Garona BlizzCon mention At BlizzCon's 2007 Q&A, it was stated that she might indeed return to the orcish race, where Chris Metzen strongly implied that he would like to introduce Garona as a possible love interest for Thrall. However, this is just an idea that was randomly thrown out there, it would seem. Trivia *She considered Khadgar, Lothar and Llane to be her only human friends. *Her name appears on the rogue quest item book: Garona: A Study on Stealth and Treachery *Malyfous Darkhammer, a member of the Thorium Brotherhood, notes that the Breastplate of Bloodthirst is Garona's trademark chestpiece (as seen in the render above). He offers players a replica of the breastplate, given a certain amount of materials. *Garona's Signet Ring is a drop from The Curator in Karazhan. *It should be noted that Garona's Last name "Halforcen" is also her race, a half-orc. *Garona's last name "Halforcen" may be a reference to a Dragonlance character named Tanis Half-Elven, who as the name suggests it a half elf. Memorable quotes *"Never better. Needed a little exercise. This whelp was kind enough to oblige." *"Yes, surprisingly, I can read..." *"Human languages are a bit...wordy." *"Let's just say I've been having a problem with divided loyalties." *"I'm going to kill him. He treated me well, and listened when I talked, and I'm going to kill him. No." *"In your histories, there are continual justifications for all manner of hellish actions. Claims of nobility and heritage and honor to cover up every bit of genocide, assassination, and massacre. At least the Horde is honest in their naked lust for power." References Category:Game characters Category:Major characters Category:Orcs Category:Humans Category:Draenei Category:Lore characters Category:Shadow Council Category:Featured Articles Category:Half-orcs